The colors of Autumn
“I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”
L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
In temperate zones, there are four seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. In the northern hemisphere, Fall begins at the September equinox and ends at the December solstice, while in the southern hemisphere autumn begins at the March equinox and lasts until the Summer solstice in June.
Autumn is the harvest season; it's the time that many fruits such as apples, pears, pumpkins are harvested, as well as nuts such as walnuts, hazelnuts, etc..
Turning a leaf
In autumn, the leaves change color. For a few weeks, Nature delights us with brilliant colors ranging from yellow to orange to bright red. The color change of the leaves is due to the fact that the leaves lose their chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is a pigment that gives the green color to the leaves in spring and summer.
Fall projects in school
Autumn leaves are an opportunity to integrate botany with visual arts.
Visual art activities can help children learn to observe the shape of the leaves and their differences from one plant to another and to learn to identify them.
Here are some ideas for art projects in the fall:
- rub the underside of tree leaves with crayons or colored pencils to bring out the shape of the leaves and veins
- paint a tree using autumn colors
- drying leaves and learn to make a herbarium
- make arrangements with dried leaves to create animals, people, landscapes, etc.
- make land art with dead leaves, branches, pine cones, etc.
How to paint autumn leaves
Recycle a styrofoam tray without any engraved inscription on it and trim the edges.
Draw one or more leaves with a pencil with a rounded tip.
If necessary, trace all the lines of your drawing a second time, pushing on your pencil to create a groove in the styrofoam.
Spread the paint evenly over the styrofoam surface with a roller.
Avoid using too much paint because it may accumulate in the grooves.
Flip the foam over on a sheet of paper.
Press all over the styrofoam.
Remove the styrofoam and enjoy the results of your first print!
Note: clean the styrofoam and the roller if you want to print again with different colors.
Video tutorial
Comments
We just went for a fall walk today and practiced with my new camera....great time of year and great activities here. Well done.
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Thank you very much, Bill! I hope that you had a great time walking in the leaves and that the colors of the trees were just gorgeous to take pictures with your new camera! Have a great week!
thanks for sharing. I like you diy very much. have a good autumn, too.
fantastic idea and detailed explanation kidscraft. very nice post and brilliant job you did, blessings dear!
A great and creative project, as always :) Fall is my favorite season for craft inspiration - the colors are so pretty! I love your printing project - it's very easy but the results are amazing! I love how the Fall colors look on the black paper!! Thanks for sharing your great ideas :)
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Thanks for your visit and kind comments, RihanaFansite! Have a great week!
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Thank you very much coming and commenting, Passionate! Very kind of you! Enjoy your week! Blessings to you too!
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Thank you very much for your kind comments, Purl3Agony! I love the colors of the fall as well, so bright and so rich! I can tell you that I was amazed myself at the result. It was the first time that I tried a project like this on black paper. The first image of the video is a mix of orange, brown, burgundy..... and gold. The gold enhance the other colors. I had fun making this project! Have a great week!
The colors of Autumn hmm the colors are so beautiful another one of your creative ideas for this time of year. I always like this time the leaves falling and also the acorns we have at the moment. Thanks for sharing this great idea. Voted up, useful, interesting and awesome.
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Thank you for your visit, kind comments and votes, Devika! I am sure the colors of autumn must be just wonderful in your corner of world at this time of the year! Have wonderful day!
Fall is a wonderful time for crafts and walks through the woods. What a perfect way to combine the two and also make use of Styrofoam which would otherwise end up in the garbage. Nice idea!
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Thank you very much, Flourish! Fall is indeed a wonderful time of the year to admire the bright colors that nature gives us and an inspiration for art :-)
Have a wonderful week!
How interesting.
Fall is beautiful and lovingly done in the craft way.
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Thank you so much for your visit, Wetnose! Not cat paws on this one ;-)
I hope that you can enjoy those nice colors when you go out with Roscoe, Bella and Jenny (I hope I have all their names right!).
Have a wonderful week!
Some brilliant creative ideas. You explained it really clearly and made it sound a lot of fun. Your finished picture looked really good. Great project for autumn :)
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Thank you very much, Anna! I wanted to create a printing technique that was approachable for younger children. At one point, I was teaching in grade 7 and 8 and they carved linoleum .... and a lot of them had cuts; so definitely not good for young children!
Have a great week! Two more days before Halloween :-)
Very clever project, Joelle! Thanks for sharing. We never did this one when I was in kindergarten. Hmm...come to think of it, maybe styrofoam hadn't been invented yet. LOL!
Thanks for sharing. This is one I want to remember when I finally get to meet my littlest grandson.
Have a terrific Tuesday! Blessings and aloha from the Pacific NW!
~Joe
The leaf prints look great and your video is well done. Nice work!
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Thank you very much for your kind comments, Joe! I think that you are totally right.... styrofoam didn't exist when we were kids. At that time they used the kind of red butchery paper, with plastic on one side. What I like with this technique, you can use with young children and they will not hurt themselves.... and it gives a nice result :-) It can never go wrong :-)
Have a great week! Blessings and aloha to you too!
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Thank you very much for your visit and very kind comments DrPennyPincher! I am glad that you appreciate the video. I try to keep them sweet and short. On top of it, for this project.... I recycle Styrofoam :-)
Have a great week!
you are just so cool. You make the craftiest things!! No wonder you have such a devoted following. I am clicking, hitting, and thumbs-upping things!!
Brav-A!
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Thank you very much, Charron! You always make me smile with your original comments :-) Have a lovely day!
So let me get this straight. You essentially created your own foam stamp out of a Styrofoam tray? INGENUIS! I love it. Now I have a mind full of recipes for home-made foam stamps.
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You are right, you take a Styrofoam tray and you use it as stamp :-) You can use it for any theme you wish! And young kids will not hurt themselves with cutting objects like those used for linoleum but can enjoy a similar technique just using a pencil :-) And then you play with colors! I had such fun :-) I already tried with other projects but it was the first hub I published about it. If you play with this technique... try to add gold paint or some pearly paint to your other plain colors.
Thank you for your kind comment, Crafty! I really appreciate your feedback! I hope that your kids can "play" and create with this idea :-)
Enjoy the rest of the week!
This is definitely the season to start doing these! Thanks for sharing!
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Thank you for your visit and comment, Michelle! Have a great day!
This is really beautiful. My daughter is going to love it. Will definitely be checking out more of your hubs!
Wonderful Joelle and as well as voting up, sharing I am also saving. Have a great day .
Eddy.
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Thank you very much for your visit and kind comment, Eddy! It's an easy project to make with your grandchildren :-) Have a wonderful day!
Joelle
Dear Joelle,
I see I have some catching up to do on your creative hubs here you have published while my computer has been down! What an awesome project. My grands will love doing this, especially with the beautiful fall colors of the leaves. They (my grands) are in awe of all of change of colors on the trees and the leaves now falling, and I am too. It is one of my favorite times of the year.
I will certainly give this creative project a try and I know it will bring much joy to my granddaughters to create something so beautiful and me too!
Up and more and sharing
Blessings to you and yours,
Faith Reaper
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Dear Faith! Thank you for your kind comments! You are always so positive that it's a breath of fresh air and very encouraging for me :-)
The fall is a rich season in colors for sure and it's very inspiring to create! I hope that you will get a chance to try this project with your granddaughters :-) If you can, try to find some gold paint... it adds a lot to the other colors. I want to try to print this project on fabric. I didn't had the chance yet but I think it could be nice too and more permanent to decorate a bedroom for example :-)
God bless you and your family too!
This is such a fun idea for Autumn play, I love it!
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Thank you StricktlyDating :-) Do you have a Fall season in Australia? I know that you have quite beautiful weather over there.... maybe even to warm at some point. Just wondering! Have a nice day!
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Thank you very much for your kind comment, Glimmer Twin Fan! I am sorry but it seems that I didn't see your comment and I like to answer each one of them! I hope that you had the chance to do this project with your daughter :-)
Have a good day!
wow great idea! Thanks for sharing. :-)
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Thank you for your "wow" Ignugent :-) It's nice when people appreciate!
Have a fantastic Thanksgiving!
wonderfully awesome kidscraft :) i love it!
Hope you have a great day.
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Thank you very much for your very kind comment, LadyFiddler!
I hope that you have a very nice evening!
Great hub, kids will definitely enjoy this activity. Creative and easy to make.
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Thank you very much for your visit and kind comment Vellur :-) I see that you are from Dubai.... the weather is for sure warmer where you live than in Canada ;-)
Have a nice day!
This is a pretty cool concept.
Wonderful idea, shared and pinned. I love the saying about October from Anne of Green Gables.
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Thank you for your visit and comment, Ben! Have a nice day!
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Thank you for the comment, the share and the pin, Rebecca! I love that quote too; it makes me look at October differently now :-)
Enjoy your day!
Oh, I love this idea! I usually purchase leaf stamps to stamp my walls like wallpaper, but lately I haven't been able to find the stamps I'd really like. This gave me a great idea for making my own.
I love fall as well. It my absolutely favorite holiday! Thanks for the great project!
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For a wall, I would try to find something more flexible that you could carve. I would test it on paper first anyway. The other trick is to remove the excess of paint you might have in the grooves with cotton swabs. When I had the result with the brown, red, orange and gold, I thought I could do it on a T-shirt for example. But sometimes it's a little bit tricky...too much paint, not enough. Anyway, it's interesting to try it :-)
Thanks for your visit and comment!
Fall colors can be so beautiful and there are lots of great craft ideas for kids during this time of year.
Hi, kidscraft,
Great hub. Great ideas for wonderful decorations. Fall is my favorite time of the year and I have always loved the gorgeous colours of the leaves.
You have really shared your talent with us. I appreciate you.
Voted up and all the way on this. You deserve it.
I cordially invite you to head to my hubs and check one or two for a laugh, and then become one of my followers.
I would love that.
Sincerely,
Kenneth/ from Northwest Alabama
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Kenneth Avery, thank you for your visit and very kind comment... and I already follow you :-)
Have a wonderful weekend!
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Writer Janis, sorry for taking so long to answer to your kind message; I am taking a little break from hubpages at the moment because I am overwhelmed with work.
I love the warmth of the fall colors and indeed, there are a lot of projects that can be done around the fall theme.
Have ag reat weekend!
Wow, kidscraft,
Thank you. I meant what I said. Love fall--color, leaves, and "that" special feeling on a fall morning which no other season has to match.
Ahhh, so beautiful.
Thanks for the follow. I appreciate it.
The colors of Autumn- so beautiful colors that would be insulting to describe them with our words. I love your hub and your autumn leaves ;)
I still like fall best of all... and I think it many very well be the colors... Great food for thought... and crafts! Thanks for sharing! ;-)
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